The disturbing explosion of anti-Semitic acts in 2018

The tags discovered in Paris this weekend and the profanation of the tree planted in memory of Ilan Halimi are the symptoms of a relentless statistical truth: the rise of anti-Semitism in France.

Traveling Monday night in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (Essonne) where Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Jew, had been kidnapped by a gang for several weeks and then fatally wounded in 2006, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner is moved by the resurgence of anti-Jewish acts. 541 were recorded in 2018 compared to 311 the previous year. After a record year of 2015, the numbers had dropped by 58% in 2016 and by 7% in 2017.

This explosion was expected. In November, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe was already worried about a significant rise in antisemitic acts in the first nine months of the year. "Anti-Semitism is spreading like a poison, like a gall," Christophe Castaner said Monday after a weekend marked by the discovery of many anti-Semitic inscriptions in Paris.

Several inscriptions in Paris

Two portraits of Simone Veil drawn by artist C215 on two mailboxes, located on the facade of the town hall of the thirteenth arrondissement, were covered with a swastika. The town hall, which discovered the tags Monday morning, will file a complaint, she told AFP.

An anti-Semitic inscription targeting the head of state Emmanuel Macron was also discovered Monday morning at the headquarters of the World, in the 13th arrondissement. The evening paper said he was going to file a complaint.

On Saturday morning, the managers of the Bagelstein restaurant located on the Ile-Saint-Louis, in the heart of the capital, had discovered a tag "juden" ("Jews" in German), written in yellow letters, the color of the star that Jews were forced to wear during the Nazi occupation.

An antisemitic tag in the middle of Paris. One too many."Juden" in yellow letters, as if the most tragic lessons of history no longer enlighten the consciences.Our answer: to do everything to make the author of this ignominy condemned.Our honor: do not let anything pass. pic.twitter.com/mLtfTQPBIT

Co-founder of this chain of bagel sales, Gilles Abecassis said Sunday that other restaurants of his brand had already been targeted by anti-Semitic inscriptions.

Wave of indignation

"In the face of the bad winds of anti-Semitism, the Republic will block. It's his honor, it's his duty, "tweeted Secretary of State Laurent Nuñez. Nicole Belloubet, Minister of Justice, also expressed on Twitter her "sadness, anger and consternation" evoking an "intolerable cowardice". "We will never give in to anti-Semitism, facing those who, by their hatred and ignorance, dirty the Republic," tweeted the Minister of Culture Franck Riester.

"Antisemitic tags up to nausea in the middle of Paris this WE (weekend, Ed). When the hatred of the Jews overlaps with the hatred of democracy, the vocabulary of the #fachosphere is found on the walls! ", Lamented in a tweet Frédéric Potier, interministerial delegate to the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hate (Dilcrah).

On Twitter, his story is accompanied by a photo showing a garage door on which is written an insult in English, linking Emmanuel Macron to the Jews. Mr. Potier told AFP that this garage door was in the first district of the capital. The Dilcrah also reported the photo of a wall of the eighteenth arrondissement. The mayor of this district indicates on Twitter have also made a report Monday morning at the prosecutor.